Welcome to The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration. Every Friday, we deliver the latest updates on election policy around the country, including nationwide trends and recent legislative activity.
In this week’s Ballot Bulletin, we cover 398 bills state legislatures acted on in the past week.
Weekly highlights
The big takeaways from the past week's legislative actions.
Lawmakers in 32 states acted on 398 bills over the last week, 169 more than last week. Forty-two state legislatures are in regular or special sessions.
- Two bills were enacted this week. No bills were enacted during the same week in 2025, no bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, and three bills were enacted during the same week in 2023.
- Legislators acted on 244 bills in 2025 and 316 bills in 2024 during the same week.
- One hundred eighty-three of the bills acted on this week are in states with Democratic trifectas, 193 are in states with Republican trifectas, and 22 are in states with divided government.
- The most active bill categories this week were election types and content-specific procedures (132), campaign finance (118), and voter registration and list maintenance (77).
- The numbers in this newsletter include 3,089 bills. We are actively processing bills filed since Jan. 27 as legislative activity increases for 2026.
In the news
A glance at what's making headlines in the world of election law.
- On Feb. 4, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request from Republican officials in California to consider a challenge to the state’s redrawn congressional map, which was enacted after voters approved Proposition 50 in November. The move will allow the new lines, which would make five districts more favorable to Democrats, to take effect for the 2026 elections.
- On Feb. 3, two voters and representatives of two groups, Healing Our Land, Inc and Empowering Descendant Communities to Unlock Democracy, sued Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin (D), stating his office has not produced data on how many eligible voters in state prisons and jails requested and received ballots in the 2024 elections. The groups argue that a 2022 law requires that such information be published. Galvin said his office has not received all of the necessary data from local sheriffs.
- On Feb. 2, the Maryland House of Delegates approved a set of congressional maps that would make one district more favorable to Democrats. HB 488 passed on a 99-37 vote, with 99 Democrats voting in favor, one Democrat and all Republicans opposing the bill, and five members absent. The legislation now heads to the state Senate.
- On Feb. 2, the West Virginia Senate passed SB 61, which would prohibit votes for all races on ballots cast in the wrong precinct from being counted. Currently, state law gives county boards of canvassers discretion on whether to count ballots cast in the wrong precinct. Individuals with disabilities whose polling places are not accessible are exempt from the prohibition. The legislation passed on a 31-1 vote, with 30 Republicans and one Democrat voting in favor and one Democrat voting in opposition. The bill now heads to the West Virginia House of Delegates.
Key movements
A look at what bills are moving and where.
Two bills were enacted in the past week. No bills were enacted during the same week in 2025, no bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, and three bills were enacted during the same week in 2023. To see all enacted bills, click here.
Three bills passed both chambers of a state legislature. To see the full list of all bills awaiting
gubernatorial action, click here.
- Maine (Democratic trifecta)
- South Dakota (Republican trifecta)
- Virginia (Democratic trifecta)
No bills were vetoed in the past week. No bills have been vetoed so far this year. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2025, 2024, and 2023. To see all vetoed bills, click here.
The big picture
Zooming out to see the macro-level trends in election policy so far this year.
Enacted bills
All bills
We are following 3,089 election-related bills, including bills carried over from the previous year.
- Trifecta status
- Democratic: 1,386 (44.9%)
- Republican: 1,072 (34.7%)
- Divided: 631 (20.4%)
- Partisan sponsorship
- Democratic: 1,461 (47.3%)
- Republican: 1,220 (39.5%)
- Bipartisan: 263 (8.5%)
- Other: 145 (4.7%)
We were following 2,621 bills at this point in 2024. Below is a breakdown of those bills by trifecta status and partisan sponsorship.
- Trifecta status
- Democratic: 1,128 (43%)
- Republican: 1,073 (40.9%)
- Divided: 420 (16%)
- Partisan sponsorship
- Democratic: 1,133 (43.2%)
- Republican: 1,200 (45.8%)
- Bipartisan: 195 (7.4%)
- Other: 93 (3.5%)
See the charts below for a comparison of total bills between 2024 and 2026 and a breakdown of all 2026 legislation by trifecta status and partisan sponsorship.
